Summertime Flies
by mandaree1
Summary: Toddler Finn is watched over by the green lady as he plays with butterflies.


**Disclaimer: I don't own Adventure Time!**

 **Title: Summertime Flies**

 **Summary: Toddler Finn is watched over by the green lady as he plays with butterflies**

 **...**

As a toddler, Finn is different from his brothers. It's one of the few things he can recall from that era; the smell of summer, the cold touch of steel under his hands, and being different. Jake is different, too, in that they were meant to be together. Jermaine is different in that he's the only one who's _not_ different, not in that way; he's just Jermaine, an awesome brother.

Later on, when Finn starts to remember more of these things, he realizes that perhaps toddler Finn had seen that Jermaine hadn't been a reincarnation. Or maybe he was, but unrelated to them. When he's bored, he really likes to think of these things, despite not having any actual answers- is Marceline an old soul, on top of being a super old lady? Did Bubblegum have a reincarnation in her future or past, or did the Mother Gum work differently than human gunk did? Did only humans have reincarnation in their future, while candy people and fire people and other people have a different way of going about death?

These thoughts don't scare him. Maybe it's because he knows he'll just reset when he goes.

He remembers how bright the stars were as a toddler- like little infernos that he couldn't look away from. He remembers the fields, and how he'd sneeze a lot on the pollen but roll in them anyway. He remembers how butterflies would be drawn to him, like they distantly recognized he was an old friend. He remembers that fading over the years, slowly but surely slipping into the vault in his mind, only to be recalled later through regression and stories.

One thing Finn will never remember is the green lady.

Even as a toddler, the green lady is mist in his mind, half-forgotten. She sits cross-legged and hunched over, watching him as he rolls and sneezes and plays. She's there when Finn takes his first steps; his first bite of birthday cake. When he watches the stars, she watches with him. Finn never does catch her name, but he's never scared of her. Deep down, even if she _wanted_ to hurt him, Finn doesn't think her form would let her.

Finn brings her a butterfly one day, then falls on his back in front of her knees, blowing a raspberry. The butterfly twitches its wings but otherwise seems quite at home on his chest. "Hi, green lady. Do you have a name, green lady?"

The green lady blinks at him. Finn thinks it's a rather patient-looking blink. "Do _you_ have a name?"

"Yup," he replied, popping the p at the end. "But I'm not supposed to tell it to strangers."

"That's okay," she says. "I understand. Parents are supposed to protect their young, right?"

Finn nods. He's too young to catch the uncertainty in her tone. "Hey, green lady?"

"Yes, little boy?"

He tilted his head up to look at her better. Something about the way she talks- it's like she's always ready for life to turn into a stealth game. Even hovering over him, all hunched and cross-legged, the sun shines through her, but not enough so it hurts his eyes. "What do you want to be when you grow up?"

"Hmm..." She tapped her chin a second. Shrugged. "Beats me. What do _you_ wanna be when you grow up, little boy?"

That's an easy one. Finn thrusts his hands out excitedly, accidentally dislodging the butterfly. "I'mma be a hero!"

The green lady's mouth opened, then closed. She leaned a bit closer. "A hero? Really?"

"Yeah! I'm gonna kick evildoer's butts! And meet princesses! And- and live in a castle!" He lists them off without really counting, just going off of what his mind supplies for him. The green lady probably gets the gist of it anyway.

She draws back, face blank. Finn can't tell if she's impressed or not, but he likes to think she is. "Being a hero is hard work, little boy," she warns, "you're going to have to make some tough decisions one day. Are you sure you want that kind of life?"

Finn sticks out his tongue. "Being a hero isn't about tough decisions. It's about tough _battles_. And I'll fight so many of those my arms turn to jelly."

The green lady glanced at her right arm, which was metal. She started to rub it almost thoughtfully, more than one lifetime away. "Sometimes, fighting tough fights are hard, too. Not just because they're tough." She looked him in the eye. Finn thought she looked even more serious than usual. "Do you think a person's life makes them good or evil? Like, if a person has a bad life, they'll be bad?"

"A person is bad if they're bad," he answered. "That's all there is to it."

Finn got up to chase after the butterfly, which was resting on a flower only a couple footsteps away, but instead felt the world go out from under him as he hit a root. He fell onto the green lady's lap, his belly brushing against her cold metal arm, searing it into his memory. The smell of summer, the touch of metal, and being different.

The green lady doesn't feel different at all. Actually, she feels familiar, like Finn has sat that way, hunched and cross-legged, a hundred times before, but he couldn't remember ever doing so. It made his back hurt just thinking about it.

Finn mumbled an awkward apology and slid his feet off of her, finding her to be more solid than she looked. The green lady didn't say anything, staring at him with wide eyes as he put both hands on her fake limb.

"Why does your arm feel all cold?" he asked. "It's warm out."

"Am I a bad person?" the green lady asked him. "I'm a thief. I've stolen people's things, and I've stolen their feelings, too, with lies."

Finn fell back onto his rear, staring at her shirt. He doesn't know much about her, but he thinks she's been through a lot in her life. And she hasn't always had people she could rely on. That's why she sits all hunched- she's holding herself up, all on her own, and that's a heavy weight. "I dunno," Finn admitted. "You don't _seem_ bad. Just really confused. Are you confused, green lady?"

She tipped her head to the side, slowly nodding. "Yeah, I think I am. I think we're all supposed to be confused sometimes. Nobody knows everything."

"I wanna know everything," he says, thinking of the stars. Could they talk? That would be pretty neat. Or maybe they did little dances together.

"I think everybody does. But it's too much for one brain to handle." She tapped the sides of her skull. "Gotta share the know-how, or it'll get all mucky and boring up top."

"You know what, green lady?" Finn tapped her knee. "I don't think you're bad at all."

"Thanks, little boy. That means a lot to me." She reached out and booped his nose. "And _I_ think you'll make a great hero one day. You're already braver than I ever was."

"You can get braver!" he insisted, waving a pudgy hand. The flowers and butterflies are already grabbing at his attention again. "You could be a hero too!"

"That's a nice thought," she tells him, but Finn hardly hears. As the sun turned to night and stars started to glisten, the butterflies came to a rest, and so did Shoko, fading into the warm summer breeze.

At least, for now.

 **Author's Note: Here, have some fun reincarnation hijinks for your day. =) Shoko was a pretty cool lady.**

 **-Mandaree1**


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